merry christmas
by McMuffin
Summary: A Christmas oneshot. Angst & fluff. Set after Joy to the World. Will House realise his mistakes & get together with Cuddy? Will Wilson finally move on from Amber? Will Cameron get over her husband & realise Christmas is better with Chase? Read to find out


Merry Christmas everyone! :D I wrote this for the House Boards secret Santa. Never written stuff like this before, it's kinda angsty but fluff, is in the present tense & is on couples I have never written before (Chase/Cam, Wilson/Amber). But I'm happy with it, and I hope you like it!  
Enjoy! :D

* * *

"So tell me again why you hate Christmas so much?" Wilson asks House as he jogs to catch up with him upon seeing him enter the elevator.

"It's a holiday celebrating the arrival of a fat man who most likely has congenital heart disease and lung cancer, which is identifiable from the wheeze when he shouts." House snarks as he hits the button for the ground floor.

"Uh, I was under the impression it was a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus?"

"Dead guy, dying guy, same difference. Still makes for a lame holiday."

"Are you sure that's why it's lame?" Wilson leans into House, "Or is it maybe because you're alone?" He says this last part and steps out of the elevator, leaving House to ponder over what he said.

.xXx.

Wilson sits in his apartment, turning a silver bracelet in his palm. Every so often the lamplight glints from the tiny inscription on the inside. His face holds a frown on it, a frown showing just how much he is struggling with his thoughts. He seems sorrowful, yet at the same time he seems to be smiling.

He reads over the inscription on the bracelet one more time before placing it on the coffee table and standing up to get a glass of water from the kitchen. Sighing he sits back down on the couch and reaches over for that silver bracelet again. He stares at the inscription for a while, remembering the bracelet and what it signifies.

He gave it to Amber as a present on the day he first told her he loved her. There was no denying she was the love of his life, and he had inscribed the bracelet with just that. He scans his eyes across the scratchy text again, remembering her perfect laugh when he gave it to her. The way her eyes sparkled and the way the corners of her mouth were constantly turned upright for the rest of that day.

A lone tear escapes his eyelids and makes its journey down the curve of his rough skin to land on his wrist. His gaze shifts from the bracelet to the salty droplet and after looking at it for a moment he makes his decision. He stands and moves to his fireplace, opening a red box behind the framed photo of Amber and himself. He places the bracelet gently inside of it and closes the lid.

"Goodbye, my love." He whispers, "Merry Christmas."

.xXx.

"Come on All!" Chase says, tugging Cameron behind him as they run through the snow in the park.

"Where… are we… going?" She asks reluctantly.

"I'm just trying to get you to love Christmas as much as I do!" He shouts as they reach the frozen lake in the center.

"Robert…" She grumbles.

"Lighten up, relax." He nudges her and wraps his hands around her waist. She leans back into his chest and closes her eyes softly, trying to relax as he told her to. She shivers and he wraps his arms tighter around her, doing up the zipper on her jacket for her.

"Why… don't you like Christmas?" He asks her softly.

"I do!" She exclaims, "Just…" She sighs and steps out of his embrace. "I… it hasn't been the same since my husband died…" She says this whilst walking over towards the lake.

"Well… why isn't it the same?" He asks softly.

"Because… I've never had… the same connection with anyone… until…" She trails off and looks away from him.

"Until?" He prompts her.

"You…" She whispers and turns back to him, tears glistening in her eyes, "I love you… but I'm scared that we'll… we'll end up… bad."

He steps towards her as he continues to speak.

"We haven't been together very long… and… I don't know." She finishes lamely.

"Well…" He reaches her, and brushes her hair away from her face, "I love you too." He says with a smile, "And we can make it the same… in fact, we can make it better, okay?" He grins at her and kisses her softly.

"Okay." She repeats and kisses him before pulling back and turning away from him, bending down.

"What are you-"

She turns and throws a snowball at him, smirking softly.

"We've got to have a snowball fight, right?" She grins.

"You little!" He gasps and bends down to make a snowball, "It's war."

She squeals as his snowball hits her on the leg and their laughter echoes through the park for the next few hours.

.xXx.

House walks up those cool pavement steps for the third time this evening. He is mumbling to himself,  
"You can do this House. You're never afraid to speak your mind… so why are you afraid to speak your heart? Don't be a tiny slimy bastard again."  
He seems apprehensive about what he is going to do. Which, in case you're wondering, he's going to tell Cuddy that he really does love her and that Wilson was right about him not wanting to be alone any more.

He paces back and forth on her porch, trying to bring himself to just knock on her door or even just ring her bell, which would be much simpler to press a button. He is planning his 'speech' in his head, knowing if he doesn't he will most likely say something mean to her and end up being alone again. It took a lot to convince himself to even come here. He had been sitting on his couch nursing a beer for over two hours when finally he decided that he really did want Cuddy, and even if he had to ruin his reputation to get her, it would be worth it.

He is currently leaning against her front door, unaware of the fact that the porch light has turned on by sensor, and that Cuddy has noticed the light. He groans and closes his eyes, sinking deeper into his jacket, feeling the cold from the snow all around. He is ready to just reach up and press the black button for the doorbell when all of a sudden the wall behind him moves back and throws him off balance.

"Ah!" He says as he falls into Cuddy's hall.

"House! What the hell are you doing here?" She glares down at him.

"Uhhh… well…" he attempts to stand up but doesn't quite make it. Instead he ends up falling back down.

"Here… let me help." She bends over to help him up and he gets a pretty decent glimpse down her scanty green nightgown. He takes her hand and pushes himself up to stand. Now seeing her bed hair he smirks.

"Nice hair Cuddy." He says, all thoughts of being nice flown out the window.

"Oh shut up." She mutters and self-consciously runs a hand through her hair.

He glances around and notices the sprig of mistletoe hanging in the doorway, knowing he has already screwed up his speech this could be the perfect opportunity.

"Mistletoe?" He asks with a smirk and she blushes.

"My friend…" She offers as a reason.

"So you going to kiss me?" he says grinning like an idiot.

"Why are you here, House?" She has her hands on her hips and he is fighting the urge to ravish her right now in her hallway.

"I'm… uh…" his mouth has gone uncharacteristically dry and he is lost for words for the first time in years. He is looking at the way her nightgown is falling along her perfect body, accentuating her perfect breasts and gorgeous curves. Gorgeous? He can barely believe he is using that word, but it truly does describe her. With words failing him, he does the only other thing he is good at doing (apart from being an ***) and steps forward towards her.

He places his hands over hers on her hips and meshes his rough lips against her soft ones. She seems shocked for a second before her lips start to move against his and her hands slowly move from under his to cup his chin. He pushes his tongue against her lips, begging entry, and she parts her lips, allowing his tongue to enter her mouth and duel against hers. It is a battle for dominance for the next minute, until they pull apart breathlessly.

"House…" She whispers as she looks into his eyes. Flickering her gaze she seems to be searching for answers to her question.

"Greg." He corrects her, secretly hating it when she calls him House.

"Greg… what-"

"You know I'm not Mr. Perfect, and I sure as hell am not going to do more clinic hours or whatever… but I'm sick of being alone… and I want to be with you." He paused to look her in the eye, "And I know you basically come with a kid now… I can't promise I'll be a good dad… but, I can try." He says.

"Greg…" She whispers, moving her hands to cup his face again and kisses him sweetly, "I love you."

He kisses her and moves his hands to her back, "Yeah… I love you too." He grumbles; trying to appear like it is forced when it really isn't. She laughs as she sees through his charade and he squeezes her ass.

"Me-rry Chri-istmas!" She says though giggles as his stubble tickles her cheek.

"Merry Christmas." He repeats and wraps his arms around her, glad that they won't be alone any more.

* * *

So... did you like it?


End file.
